


No Alternative

by Jemisard



Category: The Losers (Comic)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-04
Updated: 2013-07-04
Packaged: 2017-12-17 16:07:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/869407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jemisard/pseuds/Jemisard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The long moments between the ammo running out and the wires sparking.</p><p>Character introspective piece.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Alternative

Cougar lived because there was no alternative.

His lungs dragged air into them by force of will, determination that he wouldn’t be going quietly. His finger squeezed off another shot and his pride gave his heart the next beat it needed to fight off the coldness of death.

Cougar was dying. But he lived now, because there was no alternative.

Another squeeze and the click echoed through his hand, another clip emptied. He ejected it and concentrated to make his hand move through the screaming pain of the bullet lodged in him. Next clip in.

Except there was no next clip. He looked around him, closing his eyes and sighing softly. He had done all he could for Jake, to get him out and alive. He couldn’t save those children, he couldn’t save Clay, but he could do this, he could save his best friend and let him live.

He picked up the wires, fingers feeling along them for the stripped ends. Someone gasped, horrified, terrified, but Cougar’s eyes were closed and peaceful. It was over. It was all finally over. For him and the weight of the twenty nine children he had watched burn to death.

“ _Vaya con dios, angelitos_ ,” he whispered to them.

He sparked the nuke because, in the end...

There was no alternative.


End file.
